Book Reviews Archives - Jottings from the Granite Studio

“Great Expectations: A Review of John Pomfret, ‘The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom: America and China 1776 to the Present,'” The World of Chinese

August 10, 2017

With US-China relations facing fresh challenges, a new book ponders if history offers clues to its future. [Read More...]

“Reading Hillbilly Elegy in Beijing,” Los Angeles Review of Books China Blog

October 8, 2016

A review essay for the Los Angeles Review of Books on the similarities between the historical experience of the rural white working poor in the United States and a new generation of migrant workers in China's cities. [Read More...]

Book Review: Fred Barton and the Warlords’ Horses of China

September 7, 2016

John Ross reviews the real life adventure of Montana cowboy Fred Barton, who led the world’s longest horse drive from Siberia through Manchuria and Mongolia into China. [Read More...]

Book Review: The Mercenary Mandarin

August 30, 2016

In a guest post, John Ross reviews David Leffman’s new book, The Mercenary Mandarin: How a British adventurer became a general in Qing-dynasty China now available from Blacksmith Books. [Read More...]

The hutong and a review of Michael Meyer, The Last Days of Old Beijing

August 14, 2008

This month YJ and I moved from a monstrous [Read More...]